


Flying Without Drowning

by starscries



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Flying, Harry is a mermaid, I don't know how to tag this, Lost Boys, Louis as Peter Pan, M/M, Mermaids, Neverland, Niall is tinkerbell, Peter Pan AU, Simon is Captain Hook, Sophia and Perrie are mermaids, Zayn and Liam are Lost Boys, neverland au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 03:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6356404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starscries/pseuds/starscries
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has lost a lot of his Lost Boys, he and Zayn are the only one remaining. A new mermaid has showed up in Neverland and Louis is kind of curious about him, even though he won't admit it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Without Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello, haha. I wrote this story last year around September and just now finished editing it, so here it is: Louis as Peter Pan and Harry as a mermaid, yay. Enjoy! Also: English is not my first language so there may be grammar mistakes.

The sun shone bright over Neverland. It looked like it was going to be a wonderful day. Louis wandered around in the woods but was soon interrupted by one of the Lost Boys. Zayn walked beside Louis and was eagerly jumping up and down.

"There's a new mermaid," the raven haired boy said fast. "I think you will like him."

Louis was still looking ahead and took Zayn's arm before he crashed into a tree. Zayn mumbled a 'thank you' but looked confused at Louis.

"Don't you want to go see him?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Louis thought about it for a moment, but didn't seem to care. "Maybe later," he said and jumped down and slid down the slide and into their underground home. "What's for dinner?"

Zayn rolled his eyes and walked over to his bed and sighed. "He was really beautiful."

Louis turned around and looked at Zayn. "Well, if he was that pretty to look at, why don't you go see him some more?" he snapped, irritated that he wouldn't stop talking about the new mermaid.

"I would, but he didn't like me.” Zayn said, a little sad.

"Why would you say that?” Louis asked in a more softer voice.

"He splashed water at me."

"It could've been an accident, Z. You don't know that." Louis sighed and couldn't care less about the subject anymore.

"He looked angry, but so beautiful."

Louis walked over to the ladder and heard Zayn sighing, sitting up in his bed. "Where are you going?" 

"None of your business,” Louis snapped again and walked up the remaining of the steps. He felt the sun warm his skin and he adjusted his green hat. It was getting chilly soon, so he decided he could go down to the water and get them some dinner.

"Well, hello there," Louis said as he spotted the flying little pixie coming closer to him. Niall sat down on his shoulder and the light shone brighter around his little friend. "Have you spoken to your friend yet?" Louis questioned softly. He knew Niall had found someone he really liked, by the way he had been overly excited lately.

Niall started nodding his head and the fairy dust flew everywhere around him.

"Calm down," Louis said and laughed a little, his eyes crinkling up.

Niall started talking, but to other who didn't understand fairies, they would only hear the sounds of tinkling bells. Louis had grown up with fairies and understood perfectly when Niall would ramble on about his latest crush, though he wouldn't say who it was.

"Uhm, Niall?" Louis asked quietly and sat down on a rock with the view of the ocean. "Do you know about the new mermaid?"

Niall's face brightened and he nodded.

"What do you think of him?"

With the lightest voice he replied, "Someone worth your time, Louis."

Louis sighed and got up. His body moved upwards and he flew over the ocean that was as blue as his eyes. An incredible look to see as he flew higher up in the air. The view from above was so splendid, the island was sparkling from the sun. Neverland had always looked like this, but it was still taking Louis' breath away.

He flew down to the ocean and caught a fish with his bare hands and put it in his tiny backpack made of leaves and twigs. Of course it wasn't enough, so he waited up in the clouds, listening to Niall's light voice in his ears.

Without warning, Louis flew down towards the water and was about to take a fish, and he never missed, but someone else took it. Who bloody hell took it?

Louis looked around but couldn't see anyone until his eyes met two emerald green eyes.

As if he had looked at his archenemy, Louis looked from the mermaids face to the fish between its teeth. He couldn't compete with a mermaid. They would lure you down to the water and proceed to drown you. 

Louis swallowed hard, narrowing his eyes; he could see the smirk forming on the mermaid's lips. It broke eye contact and turned around and splashed water on Louis where he was hovering over the water. Louis fell head first into the water and swam quickly up to the surface where Niall was flying over the water, the tinkling laughter filling his ears.

Louis gritted his teeth and swam towards the beach. He walked with angry steps until he was stood next to a stone and placed his water filled backpack on it and saw that the fish he had previously caught was gone. He let out the biggest sigh and sat down, too stubborn to go out to look for more fish. Niall nudged Louis to get up and find some food, but Louis just waved the fairy away. 

"They can get their own food." Louis mumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Who did he think he was, huh? Stealing my food," Louis said, thinking out loud, in an irritable voice. Niall sat down on his wet shoulder. "That ignorant, moron," Louis stated angrily.

The blonde pixie sighed. "Louis..."

"What? He was stealing my food!" Louis sat down on the sand and let the sun dry him. He looked at Niall who was about to speak. "And don't tell me I was stealing his food. Seriously, don't they have another place to be?” Louis gestured towards the enormous ocean.

A cheerful Zayn came out of the woods and sat down beside Louis. He looked at the empty backpack and made a sad face.

"Where's the food?" he asked, frowning.

"Someone stole it.” Louis answered, not meeting Zayn’s disappointed face.

Zayn gasped. "Stole it? Who would do such a thing?"

Louis turned around and looked Zayn dead in the eye, as serious he could be. If he hated that new mermaid, he could get everyone else to do it.

"That beautiful mermaid of yours," Louis said and looked back at the blue ocean.

"Oh no, that's mean," he said in a voice so little it could've been mistaken to be a tiny child sitting next to him.

"Well," Louis started and stood up, walking towards where Zayn had come from. "Mermaids are mean."

Zayn looked from Louis to his backpack. "Wait!" he said and ran towards Louis. "Aren't you going to get us something to eat?"

"You are old enough to find your own food, Z." 

"But I like it when you do it."

Louis rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood for this kind of conversation. "Just find something. _Anything_." He finished of and headed towards their home.

***

Louis turned around in his bed, a sigh escaped his lips. He decided to go back out. Zayn had probably wandered of somewhere in the woods and Louis found Niall flying around up in the air with some of his fairy friends. They were so adorable flying, so lightly. The fairy dust was glittering like tiny stars up on the night sky.

He was close to the beach and felt a shivering wind coming through as he was walking. The stone he had sat on a few hours ago shone still bright in the sunlight.

Louis flew up to the sky and waited patiently for the fish to appear. The clouds looked extra soft today, maybe he was just tired from the lack of sleep? He had been getting less sleep lately, since he had to take care of the Lost Boys. He had actually been losing some of the boys, since they didn't want to be in Neverland anymore. They wanted to go home. To their real home, as they called it. He didn't stop them, though he loved them as the family he never had. Zayn had wanted to stay and even though he had lost almost everyone over the past couple of weeks, he still had one. So maybe he shouldn't call just Zayn the Lost Boys? It didn't even make sense anymore since it was only one, but he was so used to calling them the Lost Boys, he couldn't get used to the idea in only saying the Lost Boy. But he was one of them. He would always be. Louis was still lost, even though he had found a new home. He couldn't remember much from his past, but that was nothing he didn't care about knowing.

Being eighteen forever was wonderful. He didn't want to grow up. He wanted to stay the same forever.

A couple of fishes made their appearances and Louis was quick and got down towards the water. This time, the mermaid wasn't there to steal his food. The two fishes was safely put in his backpack, but he went back up to the clouds since this wasn't enough.

Louis then spotted someone swimming in the water and immediately knew who it was. The famous beautiful mermaid, Louis rolled his eyes at that. More fishes were swimming by, but Louis was only staring at the swimming body in the water who suddenly jumped up in the air and made a pirouette. It was beautiful to watch, but as quick as the thought came to Louis' mind it disappeared. 

He can make all the pirouettes and all that stuff in the world, but he won't make me like him, Louis thought and gritted his teeth. 

Then he suddenly heard the mermaid's voice. “Why don't you come down and play?” he smirked and played with his curls around one of his thin long fingers.

Two can play this game.

"Why don't you come up here?" Louis knew it was impossible and saw that he didn't stop playing with his curls, but floated on his back on the water.

"Are you afraid?" he asked with closed eyes.

"'m not afraid," Louis said and was annoyed. Why _did_ he have this conversation anyway? He could easily just fly away.

"Hm," he hummed. He was getting on Louis' nerves and he could see that. "When you are done being a little child, come find me.”

***

The backpack opened a little as he sat it down on the table in their home and he saw Zayn's expression go from tired to overly excited. The second the fish came to his sight he grabbed one and started tearing it apart.

"Don't you want to cook it?" Louis asked as he saw Zayn sitting down on the wooden chair in the middle of the room.

"Nah, takes too much time," he said with a mouth full of fish. Raw fish.

Louis scrunched his nose in disgust and started to prepare his fish on a stick. The small fireplace in the wall of the tree they are living in started to sparkle with orange and yellow glow.

"You only caught two?" Zayn asked a bit disappointed showing in his voice.

Louis sighed. "Yeah, I was distracted." He didn't mean to say the last part, but he thought it came out as whisper.

"Distracted? By who?" Zayn asked while Louis started eating the fish that was now warm on the stick.

"Just forget it. I'll get some more later."

Zayn shrugged. "I saw him again."

Of course you did, Louis thought and swallowed the last of the small fish.

"I even got his name!"

"Z, I really don't care."

"He don't seem to have any friends or something."

Why would he? He's a meanie, stealing other people's food.

"I was thinking about visiting him again.” Zayn said, looking deep in thought for a moment. 

"Zayn, don't you have anyone else to play with?" Louis asked and stood up again. He was restless, wanted something to do.

"No."

Then it hit Louis: the others were gone; the Lost Boys. He didn't think about it. Of course he missed them as well, but life goes on. If they could move on, move back to their "real" home, Louis and Zayn could perfectly move on with their lives as well.

"Don't worry, Z. I was thinking about going away for a while. It will be a day top. Is that okay for you?" Louis was a bit worried leaving Zayn alone, maybe he would go back to see the mermaid boy?

But Zayn's reaction was not what Louis had expected; he was excited. He nodded his head and went over to the ladder to climb outside.

"I'll be right back, Z!" Louis said as he saw the raven haired boy disappear.

He was alone again and enjoyed the silence, well at least while it lasted. The sound of a soft gentle voice soared through the air and Louis could soon see the tiny fairy the voice belonged to. Niall was speaking happily about the new adventure they were going to. They were going to a place named "Wolverhampton" a funny name, Louis thought.

"Ready, Ni?" he asked and adjusted his backpack on his back and the hat that had fallen of when he had grabbed his backpack.

"You look silly," Niall said and giggled. Louis couldn't take him seriously and laughed with the fairy boy. He reached out a hand and gently touched the fairy's cheek, though the tip of his finger was as big as the fairy's face.

When they had reached the ground over Louis' home, he followed Niall and started flying. The air starting to get chilly as they flew higher up in the air. It had been a while since they had been on a mission like this; there wasn't that many children wanting to come to Neverland anymore. They didn't believe in it anymore.

Up until two days ago. A boy had sat down by his window with his cheeks stained with tears, wanting to move to Neverland. The reason was unknown but also not important. It wasn't Louis who desperately needed someone to play with, but Zayn. Louis didn't have the energy to play with Zayn anymore like he used to. He was more of a relaxed boy, flying up to the clouds, chilling there while looking at the pretty view in front of him, taking one day at a time, but he was also restless and couldn’t sit still for a long period of time. Flying helped.

They were so high up in the air that Neverland was just looking like one of those shiny little stars and they were flying in the cold atmosphere. Since it was starting to get dark it was much colder than usual. They would've done this earlier today, but Louis was a bit distracted; someone had stolen his food! Making him grumpy and too stubborn to find more food until he had slept a little.

Louis saw what he was looking for; a round shaped planet with white clouds around it. The clouds wasn't as white as in Neverland, but a darker shade. Louis found the air on the planet disgusting, poisoning his lungs with something so sickening it made his stomach turn. Niall seemed to think so too as he took a deep breath before they entered the planet's atmosphere; the air already hitting both of the boys' lungs.

They flew over the clouds, not wanting to be seen by the many people walking the ground. He poked his head out of the clouds and made sure they were headed the right way. Niall was following him and he heard him giggle a little. He saw someone tripping over their feet on the ground. Louis only rolled his eyes and was determined to find the place they were going to. "Wolverhampton" somewhere in a place called "England". That made Louis laugh.

They found the place and lowered themselves down when they saw the many houses. Right on cue, the boy sat by the window and looked tiredly up at the sky, but his eyes were slowly closing. He couldn't keep them up anymore.

Niall frowned when he saw the sad boy and Louis saw a single tear slipping down the fairy's cheek.

Louis lowered his body down so that he was within eye reach of the brown haired boy.

"Hey," Louis said with his hands on his hips.

The boy looked up and blinked several times. "I can't believe it," he said in a low voice.

"What can't you believe?" Louis asked and lowered himself down and leaned his elbows on the windowsill. He was looking the boy directly in the eyes and smiled. "We heard you calling."

The boy looked confused at Louis. "We?"

Louis laughed, Niall flying to sit down on the windowsill. "This is Niall."

The boy's eyes widen and he blinked several times as he saw the smaller boy with wings sitting in his bedroom windowsill. "Wow, you are gorgeous."

"Well, thank you," Louis said sarcastically, he knew he meant Niall.

The boy blushed.

"Take my hand," Louis said and the boy did as he was told. "Don't worry, Niall will help you fly."

"Do I have to think happy thoughts?" the boy asked as he stood up on his windowsill.

Louis looked at him confused. "What kind of bullshit is that?"

The boy flinched at the swear word and closed his eyes. "I just thought, uhm, maybe that..." he stuttered and bit his lower lip.

"Fairy dust makes you fly. Not what you think about," Louis informed him. "What's your name?"

"Liam," he said as Louis lifted him up in the air, Niall working on his fairy dust on Liam.

"Pretty name," Louis commented, making the boy blush again.

"Thank you," he muttered.

"Now let's get away from this disgusting place," Louis said as he scrunched his nose in disgust. They started flying and Liam was a bit unsteady as he was almost flying into roofs and other stuff that was high up in the air. "How do you breathe here?” 

Liam looked at him confused. "You breathe with your lungs?" he said, more like a question. "How do you breathe in Neverland?"

Louis shook his head. "No, the air is like poison. It's disgusting. I almost threw up."

"Oh, it must be the pollution from the cars and stuff."

"What's a car?" Louis asked and raised an eyebrow. He looked concentrated up at the cloudy gray sky.

But then a panicked Liam pulled at Louis' hem. "I can't breathe out there. You can't breathe out there."

Louis stopped in the sky, stopping their flying towards space. "Of course we can breathe out there. Do you think I came to get you and kill you?"

“N-no." Liam stuttered nervously.

"Oh well, let's go home then," Louis said and turned around again. "I can't wait for you to meet Zayn. He's been lonely for a few weeks. We lost so many boys a couple of weeks ago. Sad, but life must —"

"Wait, who's Zayn? And how did you lose, uhm, the boys you are talking about? It doesn't make sense.” Liam tried to make sense of everything by asking Louis questions, looking at Louis with interest in his eyes.

"Zayn's one of the Lost Boys and for the others, well, they wanted to go home to their "real" home. Seriously, what can that planet have that Neverland doesn't have?" Louis scoffed and rolled his eyes.

It looked like Liam was about to say something but he decided against it. He didn't want to make Louis even more angry. He seemed like a guy who could get angry over something so little, but he also looked like an alright guy.

They travelled to Neverland and Louis heard him gasp at, probably, how beautiful Neverland looked.

Louis realized that they had been gone only half a day since it was already morning and the sun was setting on the blue sky.

Niall flew of to his fairy friends and both boys landed on their feet on the ground. Louis took in the fresh air several times before he spoke up. "Gonna show you your new home and then I'll find us something to eat. Sound okay?" He didn't wait for the boy to reply, but walked straight to the tree their underground home was. "In," he said and pointed to the black hole in the tree. Liam swallowed and lowered himself into the hole. "Make yourself at home, I'll be right back," Louis said through the hole and called out. "Zayn! Zayn!"

It didn't take a lot of time before the raven haired boy was in his view and was looking a bit tired, water dripping from his hair.

"What the hell?" Louis said exasperated. “You were with _him_?”

Zayn rolled his eyes. "No, I tried to talk to the others but they splashed water at me and wanted to pull me under.” He walked over to the tree and before Louis could respond, he was gone.

Louis followed and the slide was a bit wet after Zayn went down before him.

He landed on his feet with his hands on his hips, clearly proud of himself. "Zayn meet —" but before he could introduce them to each other he saw that the new boy had launched himself on Zayn.

"What are you doing?!" Louis asked and walked over to where they had collapsed on the floor. Zayn was just lying there, not able to move while Liam was hugging him tighter.

"Don't worry," Zayn said, smiling. Of course he's smiling. Louis rolled his eyes. "He's not dangerous.” He patted the new boy’s head.

"Just get a room!" Louis said and walked over to the ladder. "Zayn show him around. I'll be back with dinner," he started climbing the ladder.

"If you see him, say hello from me.” Zayn called and giggled.

Louis rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. He would probably have to meet up with that mermaid boy again. Geez, couldn't he find somewhere else to swim?

The branches was getting in his face and it made him even more angry. He didn't know exactly why he was so angry all the time.

After pushing himself through the trees and bushes he made onto the beach and flew up in the air, immediately spotting fishes near the rocks. He decided to jump down and get them. Since he had to feed one more stomach, he had to catch more fish. Liam's first day in Neverland shouldn't be spent eating fruit.

Louis waited by the rocks, patiently, and thought he spotted a fish and went down to get it when he pulled up he saw that the tail was much longer and bigger than a normal fish tail so he dropped it back in the water.

"What the hell?!" the boy said as he swam to the surface. When he saw it was Louis his face softened, but he was still a bit angry that he had pulled his tail. "You again," he said and pushed his hair behind one ear, Louis was oblivious when the mermaid was trying to flirt with him. Everyone has their own way of flirting, and obviously this was the mermaid’s way.

Louis sat down on a rock and looked on the other side of the water.

"You know, ignoring me won't make me stop talking to you," he said and swam to the other side. "I don't give up that easily."

"It's a lost case."

He looked up at Louis and looked thoughtful at him. "And why do you think that? Because you are a lost boy?"

Louis shrugged his shoulders.

"What's your name, darling?" he asked.

Darling? Are you kidding me?! Louis thought and pulled his knees to his chest.

"I'm Harry and I bet you have a cute name."

Seriously, he's flirting with me? He was the one stealing my food! That fucking mermaid. Louis rolled his eyes.

Harry was swimming on his back for a moment and Louis glanced down and saw Harry's chest glistening in the sunlight. Louis swallowed hard and turned around and immediately spotted some fishes. He flew down and caught them both and put them in his backpack, then he flew away.

Louis went back home and when he got inside the tree, he found the two boys sitting on the floor, cross legged. They were eagerly talking so Louis didn't bother them and started preparing their meal. He quite liked the fish in this ocean, but maybe it was because he couldn't cook anything else.

Zayn and Liam sat down at the table, but didn't stop talking. Louis was okay with that, he was in his own mind and while he was preparing the third fish Harry came back in his mind. Why did he start thinking about him? The boy was annoying him. Why did he think that he could just start talking to Louis? It was driving Louis nuts.

"Hey?!" Zayn said, waving his hand in front of Louis' face. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. "No, no, let me guess." He looked thoughtful out in the room, but a smile formed on his lips. "The mermaid," he now raised both eyebrows and grinned.

"Oh please, stop with that."

"What mermaid?" Liam asked, Zayn had obviously not told him about that part.

Zayn turned and looked at Liam. "I'll take you to him. He's so beautiful," he smirked. So Louis hadn't made Zayn hate him as much as he hated him?

"No, he's mean."

"Stop being childish, Louis." Zayn said, acting like the more mature one.

Niall showed up and sat down on Louis' shoulder. "Fish for dinner?" the fairy said and glowed. "It smells good." His voice was so small and adorable, making Louis forget about what they were talking about.

***

After taking a nap, Louis decided to go for a walk, or more correctly, flying above the ground. He didn't go the beach as he usually did, but he decided to go a different route. He hadn't been to where the mermaids lived before but he desperately wanted to just see Harry again. Louis was still mad at him, but would he be mad about something so little as stealing food over a long period of time? No. Louis would eventually get tired of it and think about something else. He wasn't ready to forgive Harry just yet, but he was curious.

He was flying around for a little while, when he was nearing the part of the ocean where the mermaids usually was. A voice suddenly frightened him.

"You didn't tell me your name," Harry said simply. He was lying on his stomach, leaning his head on his arms on the beach.

In reflex, Louis took his hand on his chest but immediately calmed down when he located the voice. "Well, Harry, what if I don't want you to know my name?"

"That's not fair," Harry said and pouted.

Louis turned around and looked directly at Harry. "Not fair?! You stole my dinner!"

Harry held back a laugh. "You're still mad about that?" he rolled his eyes.

"I was hungry!"

"I was too."

"Well, I was hungrier.” Louis shot back.

"Are you serious?" Harry laughed.

Louis crossed his arms on his chest. "It's not funny," Louis mumbled and looked down on the sand.

"Aren't you a cutie," Harry said and licked his lips. "I'll tell you a secret if you tell me your name."

"Why would I want to know a secret?" Louis said and rolled his eyes. " _Your_ secret?"

Harry looked amused at the stubborn boy in front of him. "I don't know. Maybe you are curious. You know you are at our beach?"

"No one owns anything on this island."

Harry sat up and put his hands in the air. "Oh okay, smartypants."

"Wouldn't you love to wear pants," Louis said in a low voice, but Harry couldn't hear him.

"So I heard there's a new Lost Boy, how is he?" Harry asked curiously and started combing his hair with his fingers. His curls were showing, small little curls bouncing when he moved his head.

"You'll probably meet him soon enough," Louis said annoyed, because Zayn would probably take him to see the mermaids.

"Really? When?" Harry asked excitedly.

Louis started walking away from Harry. He would definitely not want to talk to him again sometime soon. He had a lot of questions for Louis and he didn't like it. But he couldn't help be curious about Harry. He was new here, where did he come from? Had he always been here and just now showed on the surface of this ocean?

"See you later, cutie," Harry called in a sweet voice, which made goosebumps appear on Louis' skin.

***

Louis fell asleep instantly when he got back from his "walk". The bed was much more welcoming than when he went for a nap earlier that day. At first he was dreaming about those awful gray clouds on the planet he had been visiting and he fainted several times, making him fall from the sky and almost getting kidnapped by the people living there.

His chest rose and fell as his dreams changed and he was flying in the light blue sky with beautiful clouds and fresh air that didn't feel like poison to his lungs; an amazing feeling.

He turned around in his bed and was now facing the wall, away from the room. The dream didn't change, he was still in Neverland but a person showed up and at first he was cloudy. The shadow had long legs, with hair that was blowing in the invisible wind. There was no wind, which made it seem so unrealistic.

Louis took a step closer to the person and he was holding out his hand.

"Darling," the person said and Louis immediately knew who it was, but he didn't back away. He didn't run, because this was just a dream and he could stare into those eyes as long as he wanted to. Harry wouldn't ask stupid questions in his dreams. He would be quiet.

But he had legs. It was just the way Louis wanted him to be. He was now standing so close to Harry that when he reached up to touch his chest he could feel Harry's heart beating steady. It was making him calm and relaxed. Louis leaned his head to rest on his chest.

Why couldn't this be real?

As they were standing there, Louis in Harry's arms, listening to the waves of the ocean, Louis finally felt so relaxed. Like he hadn't felt like that in ages.

"This isn't real."

Like he had to say that. Ruin the moment. Perfect, just perfect.

Louis hugged himself closer to Harry's body, but it soon disappeared from his hold. Harry was on the ground, lying there looking like heaven itself. His body was glistening, like he had just been in the water. The water dripped down his face, past his pretty smile, down his neck onto his chest and down to his tail. Harry let him look at him without talking, without smirking; without anything.

It was perfect. Breathtaking, that was what he was.

He launched himself forward and was on his knees and was on his way to lean his face down to meet Harry's, but his mind had other plans making him wake up.

Louis groaned and blinked his eyes several times. The place was quiet letting Louis thoughts wander of to his dream. He had been dreaming about Harry; that mermaid boy. But he didn't like him.

He didn't like him.

When Louis walked out of his bed he saw two heads close to each other on the look-a-like couch made of leaves. A horrible couch, but it was the best they could do.

The boys were sleeping peacefully and Zayn was snoring lightly. Louis was thinking about what he was going to do. He didn't have much to do other than eat, sleep, fly up to the clouds, then repeat. A boring life? Maybe, but Louis didn't complain.

He grabbed an apple and went outside and up the ladder. Where he was taking himself was not where his mind wanted, but where his heart wanted.

***

He took a deep breath as he sat on the beach, waiting patiently for Harry to appear again. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but he didn't care. As soon as he saw a head full of brown curls appear on the surface of the water, he looked up. He didn't want to look that excited to see him again, so he looked down at his crossed feet and took some sand in his hand.

Harry made his way onto the beach. He sat facing the ocean and the water occasionally found Harry's tail. It was the first time he was not talking. Maybe something was wrong? No, maybe he just didn't want to talk.

Louis didn't want to be the first one to talk. The waves was the only sound. As he for the first time noticed the sun on his skin, he couldn't help himself but stare at Harry's body. The water had mostly dried of his chest and stomach, but there were still some water in his curly hair. His eyes met the sand again and he took a deep breath.

"I'm Louis," he said and he was a little afraid he had said it a bit low. He didn't want to repeat himself.

Harry smiled. "Louis," he said and turned around so Louis could fully see him. "That's a pretty name."

Louis felt his cheeks heat up and it wasn't because of the sun. He bit the inside of his lips to keep him from saying anything stupid, but Harry was getting so close to him and he didn't know what to do. What did he want?

"Louis," he said again and it sounded so beautiful coming from his voice. His voice was deep. Louis couldn't quite describe it, but he was so close to his face right now that he couldn't fully concentrate on anything else than Harry's warm breath hitting Louis' neck. 

Louis snapped back to reality and shook his head and quickly stood up. He was breathing heavily, his chest rose and fell fast.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked confused and sat up straighter.

Louis couldn't find his own voice and looked around the beach, but he wasn't looking at anything specifically. He suddenly felt like he was going to faint.

"Uhm, Louis?" Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him back down in the sand. "You look pale," he said and touched Louis' cheek. "Should I get you anything?"

Louis blinked several times and suddenly felt the urge to throw himself in Harry's arms, but he couldn't do that. Harry would win. He couldn't let him win. But he made Louis think about Harry this way. Feel something in his heart that made his stomach fill with butterflies. This is awful, Louis thought and swallowed hard.

Harry was still looking at Louis with a worried expression.

Louis opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something, but closed it again. He looked down and found Harry's hand rubbing soothing circles over his knuckles. Harry was so gentle with him.

"I'm okay," Louis said under his breath.

Harry sighed and smiled. "What were you thinking about?"

How breathtaking you are, how pretty you are, how sweet you are… But Louis just shook his head, "Nothing."

"Well, it didn’t look like nothing." He said and touched one hand on Louis' nose.

"What are you doing?" Louis asked as he felt Harry's finger run down from the tip of his nose over his mouth and down his neck, until it reached the top of Louis' green t-shirt.

"You told me your name," he started as he looked at where his finger once were. "I'll tell you my secret.”

"What kind of secret?" Louis asked curiously. He looked away from Harry's intense look, those green eyes can really go right through your soul. Louis started laughing and took a step back. "I'll tell you one little secret I have," he said and held back a laugh. "I secretly hate this color." He gestured to his outfit and when he saw Harry's expression go from happy to offended, Louis looked a little bit confused as to why that was when he realized that he just said he didn't like green. Green as in the eye color of Harry. Green as in the color he associated with Harry now. Damn it!

But Harry's sad expression disappeared the second it appeared. "Ok then," he started and bit his lower lip, probably wondering if he should still tell him his secret. "I assume you don't want to hear my secret anyway." Harry was on his way to the water again when Louis took his wrist. He wasn't the guy to apologize, since he rarely saw his mistakes but this time he actually did.

"I'm sorry if I offended you." The wording made Louis shrink a little; embarrassed myself in front of a mermaid, check.

"Oh, I'm not offended. So what if you don't like green? Plenty of people don't like green. We all have different colors we like more and then we have those we don't like at all."

"Ok, stop it. This is ridiculous," Louis said and rolled his eyes. He had just made the mermaid ramble on and on. Geez, stop that.

Harry sighed. "Well, I don't have any other place to be right now," he looked a little bit sad, looking around.

"What about your friends?" Louis asked and suddenly remembered that Zayn knew where Harry lived. He tried to look back into the forest of trees, but couldn't see anyone spying on them.

“Friends,” Harry said chewing on the word. “Don't know what that is, to be honest," Harry said and looked a little bored, like he had gotten that question before.

Louis knitted his eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if I was going to explain that to you, you would have to know my secret."

"Alright, alright, tell me the bloody secret, damn it."

"Hm, I don't know. You said you didn't like me."

Louis was taken aback. "I never said that!"

"Yes, you did."

"When?" Louis asked and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Just a few minutes ago," Harry said and looked at his nails, like he was stating the obvious.

"I can't remember saying that."

"Hm," Harry hummed. "If you say so."

"You are getting on my nervous."

"Wonderful!"

"How is that wonderful?!" Louis asked and if this was a cartoon you could see smoke coming out of his ears.

"We can be a great team."

Louis knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. ”Hold on, you lost me there."

"Do you want to know my favorite color?" Harry asked and flashed the most beautiful smile at Louis.

What an idiot, Louis thought and rolled his eyes. "Sure, what is it?"

"Blue."

As if Louis was going to be impressed by that, he just sat there and looked blankly at Harry. And...?

"Blue like the ocean, blue like the sky, blue like the eyes of the person in front of me." Harry finished of smoothly and winked.

Seriously?!

"Well, ok then..."

"You don't know how to take a compliment, do you?"

Louis rolled his eyes and started wondering how many times he did so in a conversation with this curly haired mermaid. "Uhm, you were saying something about a secret."

Harry was dragged out of his thoughts and blinked his eyes at Louis. "Curious, huh?"

"Seriously, Harry, just say it already."

Harry laughed at that. "Well, Louis, the reason why I don't have any friends is because they are jealous."

"Ok...?" Louis said, urging him to say more.

"I can walk.” Harry waited patiently for Louis to respond, or react to the secret.

Hm, a mermaid who can walk. You've got to be kidding me, Louis thought and started laughing. "And that's why you don't have friends?"

Harry nodded, a little bit offended that he had started laughing right after he had told him his secret.

"So how does it work? You dry of, you get feet, you get water on you and you get a tail?" Louis tried to sound serious in asking this question, but was actually trying not to laugh.

"No," he dragged out the 'o'. "If I want to swim I get a tail and that goes for feet. If I want to walk on land, I'll get my feet."

"Really, show me."

"Well, okay then," Harry said and moved further up on the beach and not even with a blink of an eye he had gotten two feet to stand on. But with no clothes on. Great. "Oh and I don't have anything to cover it," Harry said and smiled, taking his hands on his hips. Standing there proud with his head held high. "I'm not on land that much."

Then out of nowhere Zayn and Liam came down towards them, jumping out of the bushes and frightening both Louis and Harry. Harry fell on the sand since he wasn't that used to standing on his own two feet.

Zayn and Liam broke out in a loud laughter and fell on their backs on the beach. Louis sighed and stood up and tried to remove all of the sand that had gotten on his clothes.

"Boys!" Louis said loud, but it came out too softly.

They stopped laughing and wiped away tears that had gotten out of their eyes. Then they turned to Harry and their mouths fell up. "He's naked!"

"And he has legs. Nice legs," Liam said and smirked.

They started giggling.

"Louis, you didn't tell me about this," Zayn said and took a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't hide him away from us." He joked and Louis got a little annoyed.

Harry didn't seem to mind that the two boys had joined in and was now staring at his naked body. He just simply stood there, not knowing how to actually move his feet. It had been ages.

"Are you coming to dinner?" Liam asked and was now about to touch Harry's abs.

Harry smiled. "Sure. And you are...?"

"I'm Liam," he said and hadn't taken his eyes of Harry's body.

"Liam stop staring. It's rude," Louis said, with his arms crossed on his chest.

"It's rude, because you are staring at his boy," Zayn said and took Liam's hand in his.

"Why don't you go get him some pants?" Louis suggested, not denying what Zayn had said. He actually wanted Harry alone, even though he drove him crazy.

They ran of in to the woods.

"Pants?" Harry said and grimaced.

"Something to cover your bottom half."

"Am I not that good looking?” Harry asked, an eyebrow raised.

Louis was a bit confused by the question. Of course you are good looking, geez, have you seen yourself. Of course you have. You live with yourself everyday. Damn it, he's so...

"Louis, you're staring," Harry said and Louis could see him blush a little.

"Sorry," Louis mumbled and looked towards the woods again. They were probably going to be ages, so Louis decided that they should get going. Harry leaned on Louis as they walked through the trees and bushes. It must've hurt with all the branches getting everywhere down there, but he seemed alright. He didn't complain.

"You should probably have some pants on if you're going to slide down there." Louis said and knocked on the tree. "Boys?" he asked and was hit with a pair of short shorts. "Seriously?" he rolled his eyes and gave them to Harry.

"They look like the skirt I wore to the underworld parties!" Harry said happily and pushed them on. "Doesn't look that good, but they are cute."

Louis couldn't help but to think how cute Harry was at the moment, but pushed the thought away. "Harry, just sit down here," Louis pointed and Harry did as he was told, "and just let yourself slide."

"I don't know, Louis. It looks a little scary." He said and looked down.

"I will slide down the exact same way, Harry. You'll be fine," Louis assured him and gave him a little push, but earned a giggle from him.

"That tickled!" Harry said with a big smile on his face.

Louis gave him a bit harder push and he went down the slide, with Harry's scream as the only sound in the area at the moment. Louis laughed a little and when he thought it was ready, he pushed himself down the slide. The slide was always funny, even though he had slide down it hundred thousands of times, probably even more, it was just one of those things he enjoyed.

When the slide was about to end and he could see that Harry was still on the floor in front of the slide, Louis tried to stop but he couldn't and landed straight on top of him. He heard Harry groan and Louis mumbled a quick 'sorry' and stood up.

Louis looked up and saw Zayn standing in front of them with a smirk on his face.

***

Zayn sat opposite Harry and was talking with his mouth full of food, "I still don't get how you can just walk."

Louis rolled his eyes, but when he looked at Harry he saw that he didn't mind the confusion and questions. "To be honest, no one really knows. My parents don't know. It doesn't happen to all mermaids, only a few. So far I haven't met any other mermaid like me."

Zayn nodded and continued with his food.

"Don't play with your food, Liam," Louis said as he looked at him from across the table. He was sitting beside Harry and he looked a bit shy. He hadn't even talked the entire time they had been sitting there eating.

"Sorry," Liam mumbled, "I'm not really hungry."

Louis understood him. The thing was that when you enter Neverland you don't have to eat anymore. You are immortal. Which means you never age or have to stuff food in your mouth whenever you feel hungry. Yes, they can still feel hungry, whether it is because they were used to it before this life. Maybe it was just their brains playing with them? Either way, Louis eats because he likes to keep his mouth busy, also it is a great way to just sit down and have a conversation with the Lost Boys. They never had anyone over visiting, so this was the first time.

Louis cleared his throat after swallowing a spoonful of fruit down his throat, "Where did you get all this food?" He looked at Liam at first since he was across from him, but turned his head to look at Zayn.

"Well our little friend helped us, a certain fairy," Zayn said and smiled brightly.

Louis could suddenly see Harry move a little uneasy beside Liam. Didn't he like fairies? Who is he kidding; everybody likes fairies!

"Ah, Niall," Louis said and smiled down at his food. "Where did he go?"

"I think he said something about meeting a friend."

"His special friend," Louis corrected and raised an eyebrow.

"What?! Niall met someone?!" Zayn asked and nearly dropped his spoon on the floor. He then turned to Liam. "Maybe we saw him, maybe he was one of his friends who helped us!"

"Maybe we could call for him?" Liam asked and everyone was surprised when Harry stood up, everybody's eyes on him.

"Everything okay, curly?" Louis asked and raised both eyebrows.

It looked like Harry didn't know what to do at that moment, with all of their eyes on him. He felt paralyzed.

"I need to go home. _Now_." He finally said after a few awkward moments.

"So soon?" Zayn asked and pouted.

"Yes, thank you for having me," he politely said, but looked eagerly around to find the way out. "Uhm, Louis?" he asked and gestured around

"Oh," was all Louis said, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he was already leaving. But before he could show him the way out, a blonde little fairy came right down the slide and sat down on Louis' shoulder.

"Oh my, Niall, you frightened me!" Louis said with his hand over his heart. The fairy just laughed, a tinkling sound escaping its mouth. Harry didn't understand a word it said, but he also didn't think the fairy was talking, trying to communicate with movements and sounds. "Niall you little cutie," Louis said and his hand went up to let Niall stand on it.

Harry swallowed hard and wanted nothing more than to snap the fairy away from Louis' hand. He fought the urge and stepped back, but Louis was so close already that he almost touched the wall behind him.

"This is Harry," Louis said with a tiny voice. "Harry, this is Niall." He looked at Harry with sparkling eyes and he looked suddenly so young and innocent to the mermaid who was desperately trying to escape the place.

Niall flew closer to Harry and Harry could feel his heart beating fast. He didn't know why, but he certainly didn't like the little fairy. It was something about a tiny little creature flying around, doing whatever it wanted.

"Hi," Harry said, but he didn't recognize his own voice.

Niall flew to the table to Zayn and Liam who looked equally as happy as Louis to see the fairy.

"Do you really have to go?" Louis asked, taking Harry out of his thoughts. Louis saw that something was bothering Harry but he couldn't understand what it was.

"Why don't we go for a walk?"

***

The moon was shining over Neverland as the two boys walked towards the water. It was a chilly night, but not winter cold. Louis hadn't felt winter in such a long time, also he had been in Neverland for what seems like forever.

Neverland was also a beautiful sight at night, even though it was mostly the stars that shone brightly on the sky that was the only thing visible, it was still beautiful. But nothing could compare to what Neverland looked like at day time. Louis was still not used to how beautiful it was.

"Tell me about yourself." Louis said as they walked side by side. He still had to help Harry walk now and then as he tripped over his long feet.

"What do you want to know?"

Louis thought about the question a little. There were so many things he was curious about. "How old are you?"

"Well, I stopped counting several years ago." Harry said and smiled. "What year is it?"

Louis thought he was just joking, but he really wasn't. "I think it is two thousand and fifteen."

"Wow, we've come that far?" Harry looked deep in thought for a moment. "I'm not very good at counting, but I think I've reached... Wait, what month is it?"

"November."

"Oh, ok," he said and sat down when they had entered the beach. "I'm 134 years old."

Louis laughed a little. "You are just a baby."

"Really? How old are you?" Harry asked and raised an eyebrow.

"203," as if that was something to be proud of, Louis held his head up high and closed his eyes with the biggest smile on his face.

"You're only 69 years older than me," Harry rolled his eyes at Louis, even though he couldn't see it with his eyes closed and looking all proud of himself.

"Yeah, if we met then I would be too old for you."

"We met now."

"If we met before Neverland," Louis corrected, but Harry looked at him confused.

"Before Neverland? Where were you before?"

"Doncaster," Louis couldn't remember anything from his time on the poisonous planet, but he sure as hell knew he didn't want to go back there. It was like his brain shielded him from whatever he had gone through back in the days.

"Where's that?" Harry asked.

"Have you ever been outside of Neverland?"

Harry shook his head. "Always been at the Mermaid Lagoon," he said and nodded towards the water. "Though I did spend an awful lot of time north from here. I think my mum said it was called Cheshire."

"Where's your mum?" Louis asked, dropping the subject about where they came from.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Probably of somewhere doing whatever she wants." He finished of rolling his eyes.

Louis gave him a weak smile and took a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Let me tell you a story."

***

Harry grew impatient when Louis didn't start telling his story. He loved stories. He could vaguely remember his mum telling him stories when he was little.

Louis turned his whole body around so that he could look at Harry while telling his story. He saw that Harry looked eagerly up into his own two eyes. The green in his eyes was darker in the darkness of the night, with only the moon to make them shine.

"I don't know if you've heard of pirates...?" Louis started of with a question and saw that Harry rolled his eyes.

"Of course I have. I haven't been living under a rock either."

"Ok, ok! Well, there was once a ship full of pirates that threatened Neverland. The captain of the ship was Captain Hook, but his real name was Simon Cowell." 

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Weird name." 

"Yes, yes it is," Louis laughed. "Well, I must say in my defense he deserved what he got. We were in a sword fight and I cut off his hand."

"Louis!" Harry exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Well, he deserved it that bloody pirate. Also, he thought I knew where the gold was and I actually didn't know it, but Niall knew and I had to protect my friend." He shifted and put his feet under him and licked his lips and continued. "Captain Hook didn't succeed in kidnapping Niall, but he kidnapped a friend of mine, Eleanor. She was visiting me and the boys when Captain Hook took her. He threatened to drown her if I didn't tell him where the gold was."

"What did you do?" Harry asked when Louis paused.

"I fought him. I went on the ship and saw Eleanor was standing on the plank with a blindfold, barely standing on her two feet with her hands tied behind her back. It was horrible. She's my friend and seeing her almost jump to her death was terrifying.”

Louis continued. ”The other pirates was urging her to go further, promising her that she wasn't near the end yet, but she was. I waited until she was at the end and I saw her fall down towards the water. When the pirates didn't hear her body fall into the water, they starting talking, looking down towards where she would've landed, but nothing had hit the water. Nothing.” Louis made a dramatic pause.

"They told Hook and he looked angry. So, so angry. It was ridiculous. I held her in my arms and flew her towards the beach, but I had to stop Hook. I told her to run back to my place and said that I was coming back as soon as possible. When I got on the boat and faced Hook himself and saw the slight fear in his face, I couldn't help but laugh a little."

Harry gasped. "You laughed?"

Louis smiled, proudly of himself. "Yes, I did Harry. He didn't scare me at all. After all I had already chopped of one hand, I could do it one more time,” he smirked. "It wasn't easy to fight him; he had had a long time practicing with one hand and his skills with a sword was much better than the last time. But I had an advantage: I could fly.” Louis’ eyes lit up, now watching the night sky.

"The other pirates were to no use, I have no idea why they were called pirates in the first place. They were scared to face me. Me, an eighteen year old boy," Louis laughed. "Scared, they ran of. Only a couple stayed, but they almost pissed their pants. Seriously, they looked ridiculous. Hook played his game good as long as it lasted. We could've gotten along if it wasn't for his egoistic mind. He only wanted the gold. What he didn't realize was that if he had befriended me, he could've gotten all the gold, and even fairy dust to fly! But no, he decided to fight me. He made me so mad.”

Harry was watching him in awe, waiting patiently when Louis would stop to remember small details about the story.

"I was getting tired towards the end and thought I was going to have to give up. I was surprised his old ass was still fighting me. He looked tired too, but not nearly as tired as I was. Geez, I wished I could walk the plank at that moment. Then I had the brilliant idea,” Louis snapped his pointer finger and thumb together. "I could make him walk the plank. His enemy, the crocodile, was always eager to get his teeth in him and I could hear him waiting in the water by his ticking sound. Apparently, a clock had got stuck in him. Poor thing.”

Harry’s eyebrows rose up, a crocodile with a ticking sound? That’s new.

"Hook knew he was defeated the second he had his foot on the plank. The look of fear and desperation when he saw the crocodile was humorous to me. He could finally get what he deserved. Threatening my friends! What would I do if I lost any of them? Live on my own? For all eternity? No way in hell.” His hands flew up and landed on his thighs.

"I still remember him begging me to not kill him. I didn't kill him though. The crocodile did. I believe he died. No one could survive that fall and the crocodile's stomach. Disgusting. The satisfaction on the crocodile was as amusing as it swam away from the ship, its tail waving above the waters surface. I took a step back and admired the ship, but it only had bad memories to it so I made it disappear. Making it home in time for dinner with my boys. I may sound like a hero from this history's point of view, but I'm far from one." Louis ended and sat back on his elbows. "I make mistakes."

"Don't we all?" Harry said and sat back on his elbows, mimicking Louis.

"Did you like the story?" Louis asked, looking up at the stars.

Harry admired Louis from where he was sitting, he didn't look innocent anymore, but more grown up. He had indeed lived a long life and he had many more years to come. "Yes, I did." He said and smiled. Harry finally had someone to call a friend. In his mind, he had. He didn't know if Louis wanted to be his friend. Since he didn't want to ruin the moment, Harry just sat there enjoying the view of the stars with Louis.

***

Harry went back to the ocean and Louis went back to his home. It was still hours until the sun came back up in the sky and it made Louis want to camp outside this night. He couldn't get sick, so he might as well just lay down on the ground.

He suddenly heard someone move in the bushes and he went to examine it, but found a lost little bird lying on the ground. It looked sad and afraid, not knowing where it was. So beautiful, Louis could only imagine its colors in the sun light.

Louis sat down and carefully placed the bird in his hands and saw it stand up on its tiny feet. "Hi there, little bird." It was silly talking to a bird, but no one was around so why the hell not? "Are you lost?" he asked with a tiny voice, thinking it may understand him.

The bird kept looking around the different trees and Louis could see a single tear leave the bird's eye.

"Don't cry, love."

A sudden noise was heard and a big bird landed on his shoulder. The bird looked down to the little bird in his hands. The bird's beak nipped at the little one's feathers and picked it up and flew away, leaving Louis alone.

***

The morning came and the morning warmth woke Louis up from his sleeping state. He rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and stood up. He flew up in the air and made his way towards the beach, he didn't know if Harry's was up yet, but he was willing to wait.

He decided to stretch a little, when he made his way over to a bigger rock. The water shone bright and was even more blue. But he couldn't see under water. It wasn't that clear.

Two mermaids came up and supported themselves on the rock Louis' was sitting on. The first one was a brunette with grayish eye color and the other one was a blonde with blue eyes. They blinked their eyes at Louis and admired him from where they were.

"Hello there, handsome." The brunette purred and bit her lower lip.

Try again, Louis thought and examined his nails.

"What are you up to, boy?" The other mermaid said, who was taking her hair behind her ears.

"Waiting for a friend," Louis simply said.

"Really?" the blonde one said and looked interested in knowing who that was.

"Ditch him," the brunette one said, she clearly knew who it was since she said him. "Come with me and Perrie." She gestured for Louis to take her hand, but when he didn't take it she got furious.

"We shouldn't, Sophia," the blonde one, Perrie, said and swallowed hard. "He's handsome, but not that handsome."

"Don't be a wimp," Sophia said and grabbed Louis' hand, so fast Louis didn't have the time to react. He was pulled under the water and immediately tried to get back up to breathe, but didn't get anywhere as the mermaid was stronger than him. He was in their element, and she was used to the water. Perrie looked a little apologetic at Louis as she saw him struggle to get out of Sophia's tight grip. But she didn't do anything about it.

They swam for a few more seconds and then Louis suddenly felt something hard hit his head.

***

How could something hurt that much under water? A rock? Well, if a mermaid hit you apparently it would hurt as hell.

In pitch darkness, Louis could finally breath normal again. He was obviously on land again, but it was cold. So cold it made goosebumps appear on his skin.

"He's cold," he heard someone say. He couldn't identify the voice, but it was one of the two mermaids who had kidnapped him. Or was this supposed to be a joke? If it was, it was bad joke.

"Whatever," the other one said and it was frustrating to not see anything with the blindfolds in front of his eyes. Was this how Eleanor had felt when she was on the plank? At least she had someone who would save her. No one knew he was even here, wherever that was.

"Uhm, hello?" he said, his throat felt dry.

"See, he's fine."

"I'm not, but ok." Louis said. He didn't want to feel weak in front of two mermaids, but what choice did he have? He was trapped.

"Did she tie the rope to tight?" that was probably the blonde one, Perrie, asking. She was the one who was most worried about him.

"A little."

"He's kidding." Sophia said and sighed, Louis imagined her shaking her head.

"Well, I think we should let him go."

"Listen to your friend."

"And why would I do that?" she asked, annoyed.

"I don't see the point in this, please explain," Louis started. "OH! And can you remove the blindfolds?"

Someone was by his side and removed the blindfolds. "There you go," Perrie said and smiled at him.

"Thank you, darling," Louis said, making Perrie blush.

"Oh please," Sophia said and rolled her eyes.

He then realized that he wasn't on land after all; his feet had gotten so cold he had no longer any feeling there. He felt waves coming towards him as the two mermaids swam around him.

"We only want him," Sophia said and looked dreamily of into the distance.

Louis didn't know who they meant and remained as a statue until they explained further.

"You're slow, huh?" Perrie said, her voice more rude and it took Louis by surprise.

"The walking mermaid, fishbone," Sophia said and crossed her hands on her chest.

Fishbone? Is that supposed to be an insult? Louis thought to himself and held back a laugh. "You mean Harry?"

"I knew you guys were friends," Sophia said and looked at Perrie. She earned an eye rolling from the blonde mermaid. Sophia splashed water at her, but she didn't take it as an insult.

"I don't know if we are friends, to be honest," Louis admitted.

"I'm sure he's scared to death when he finds out his friend is nowhere to be seen."

"Don't be dramatic," Louis said and looked slightly bored at the two mermaids in front of him.

Sophia sighed. "We've left him clues, so don't worry. He'll be here soon enough."

"Well, ok then. What do you girls do for fun around here?" Louis asked, more as a joke, but if he was going to be here for a while they might as well talk.

"You don't care," Perrie said and tilted her head.

Louis sighed and prepared himself for the minutes of endless silence.

***

When will he get here? Maybe he didn't figure out the clues and I'm going to die because of two mermaids. Ugh and they're not even pretty, Louis thought and closed his eyes to make a picture of all the things that made him happy. There was Zayn who had been with him since the earlier days, Niall who had always been there for Louis; welcomed him to Neverland, showed him a more beautiful world. Then a few days ago, Liam came with him to Neverland. Louis hadn't gotten the chance to get to know him, since he had spent most of his time with Harry.

Harry, the new mermaid around here. The newest friendship he had started. That boy was like made for Louis. That he could walk on land was just unbelievably weird, but also pretty awesome. Impressive; jaw-dropping, but amazing since then they could spend more time together.

How long have I've been here? Thirty minutes? Three hours? I can't even see the sun! The rope around his hands was starting to hurt a little, but if he told them they would only laugh and think he was trying to trick them.

"He really do take his time, huh?" Louis said out loud and caught the mermaids attention. "Maybe your clues are too clever for him to follow?"

Sophia smirked and looked at Perrie. "Maybe you should go look after him?"

Perrie nodded and disappeared under water.

"So..." Sophia started and got up on the rock beside him and waved her tail for a second, smiling at Louis. "Do you like him?"

Louis looked confused at Sophia. "Of course I like him."

"Hm, would that mean we would steal your boyfriend?" she asked and looked at Louis with an amused expression.

"He's not my boyfriend."

She held her hands in the air. "Oh, ok, if you say so.” Sophia started playing with her tail in the water. "I noticed that you brought another boy here," she started and admired her tail. "He's adorable. What's his name?"

"None of your business," Louis said through gritted teeth. He didn't like that she was sitting so close to him, he didn't like her at all. She looked like what evil would look like.

"So protective," she sighed, "Just like that other girl."

Eleanor?

"That was a pretty girl. Where did she go?" Sophia raised an eyebrow.

"Home," Louis said simply.

"Not what I saw, pretty boy."

"What do you mean?" Louis asked, confused.

"You know what I mean."

"Where did she go, Sophia?" Louis asked, more angry now.

"I love how my name sound coming out of your mouth," she purred. _Disgusting_.

"Tell me!"

"Why don't you ask your friend?"

Louis laughed. "How the hell would he know?"

Sophia shrugged her shoulders and then they saw Perrie appear on the surface. She blinked her eyes and looked innocently up at Sophia. "He's close."

"Good," Sophia jumped down from the rock and splashed water everywhere. Louis tried shielding his face, but failed as he felt water drops fall down his cheeks.

Louis felt his heart in his throat when he thought about what Sophia had said. What the hell did she mean, ask your friend? Why would Harry know anything? Louis was confused and his anger was building up and it was towards his new friend, Harry.

***

It felt like it had been forever and Louis couldn't bear another minute being tied down to a rock. He was on his way to stand up when he felt himself being pulled down towards the water.

Water started pouring down his mouth and through his nose, filling his lungs with fluid. His vision started to disappear and he felt dizzy for the first time in years. He tried to keep his eyes open, but his mind told him to close his eyes.

There were still someone holding him under water and when he finally got up to the surface and could breathe again, he was pulled under. His hands were still tied up and he tried to wriggle himself out of the person's grip. Louis' mouth fell open to scream something, but all that came out was a strangled scream and a few bubbles.

He almost fainted when he felt two strong hands moving him up on the rock he had been sitting on not that long ago. He coughed up water and felt air hit his lungs again. Louis blinked his eyes open and was staring towards the water where the two mermaids who had kidnapped him was fighting to keep Harry still.

Good luck with that.

Louis noticed that he could move his hands and was quick on his feet and felt himself fly again. The feeling was wonderful, but it didn't last long as he went down to help his friend.

Perrie splashed Louis with water, but it didn't hit him as hard as she wanted to. He went down to try and get her hands off Harry, but felt his hand get caught by one hand who were then trying to drag him down towards the water. They weren't going to get him under water again. Not a chance.

Harry was fighting hard to keep both mermaids away from him and then when they least expected it another mermaid came up from the water, with an angry expression on his face he crossed his arms and looked at the four of them fighting.

"What is going on here?!" he spoke up and his eyes were wide.

The two girls stopped fighting, releasing both of them and looked pretty terrified.

"D-dad?" Sophia squeaked and sunk lower down in the water, trying to hide herself.

"What nonsense is this?" he asked and swam towards them. When they didn't answer he said, "You disappoint me. Fighting over a boy?" He shook his head.

"We weren't —"

He held up a hand. "I don't want to hear. You," he directed himself towards Perrie. "I'm going to talk to your parents."

Perrie's eyes went wide, but it soon disappeared as they all went under water.

"It took some time, huh?" Harry said and smirked.

"You told her dad?" Louis asked with a big smile.

"Yeah," he answered and blushed a little. "I may look tough, but I'm really not."

"Well, you saved my life." Louis said and patted his back. "Thanks."

They went out of the cave which turned out to be not that far from the place where they kidnapped him. He had never been in this cave before, maybe because he didn't like caves but anyway he was out of there.

When they entered the beach and Harry got two feet to stand on, Louis turned to look at Harry, "What do you know about Eleanor?”

As expected, Harry looked confused at Louis as he had asked him the question. He said. "What do you mean?"

Louis looked down for a few seconds and sighed, looking back up at Harry. "Something Sophia said."

"You shouldn't let them get in your head."

"So you don't know anyone named Eleanor?" Louis raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I do."

"And...?"

"I met her in the ocean not that long ago. I've been on a sort of vacation down south. Do you think it's the same girl you know?"

"It's impossible since the Eleanor I know is a person with feet."

Harry nodded.

“What's her last name?"

“Calder, I think." Harry answered.

Louis' eyes widened and he took a step back.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked and held a hand out to touch Louis' shoulder.

"That's impossible."

"Lou, I don't understand."

"Calder, that was her last name. How's this possible?"

Harry looked deep in concentration. "Well, I don't know."

"Is she here right now?" Louis asked, looking towards the water.

Harry could feel his cheeks heat. Why did he care? Harry thought and crossed his arms. "Did you like her?"

Louis, surprised by the question, answered, "As a friend, yes."

A look of relief spread across Harry's face, but Louis didn't know why.

"So?"

Harry swallowed hard, looking down at his toes. "Nothing."

"You are relieved, why?"

"Just forget it," Harry was on his way to walk away, but stumbled and fell face first in the sand. "Damn it," Louis heard him say.

"Do you have something on your mind, Harold?" Louis asked, laughing, helping his friend up from the sand.

"My name's not Harold, it's —"

"I know, Harry, you're avoiding the question."

He tried to remove all of the sand off his body while avoid looking at Louis.

"You know, I have all eternity and I always get my way."

"Oh really?" Harry smirked and straightened himself back up.

Louis touched Harry's upper arm, "You know, you saved me today. You are my hero."

Harry blushed, butterflies erupting in his stomach, making him smile. "That was nothing." He tried to wave it away.

"Really, who knows how long they would've held me there. I could've died! We would've found out if I had stayed in that cave a little longer."

"Don't say that." The thought of losing his only friend was making Harry's stomach turn and a single tear slipped from his eye down his cheek.

"Why are you crying?" Louis asked, catching the tear before it went down his neck.

He sniffled and tried to blink away the tears that were forming. "I don't want to think about losing you. You are the only one who will actually be around me."

"Aw, Harry, you make my heart beat faster," Harry knew he was sarcastic, but the words meant more to him than Louis would care to know.

Louis started walked towards the woods when Harry stopped him, taking his hand. "Where are you going?" Harry asked with a weak voice.

Louis smiled back at him and when he noticed that Harry hadn't stopped holding his hand, he looked back and forth from Harry's eyes to their hands. "What are you doing?" he asked, a little breathless.

"Nothing."

Louis eyes blinked fast as Harry was staring at him intensely. How did he go from not liking this boy to be standing here having a staring competition where he so badly wanted one thing, but was too afraid to take the first step? But what was he afraid of?

Harry said five simple words which had Louis twisted around his finger. "Now kiss me you fool.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comment what you think! And if you like it, leave kudos! Thank you (:


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